Solo character advice

[Mubjon]

I am getting ready to take a break for about a week on my TR as I am just bored with being a wizard. So I want to create a character from scratch run all content possible solo in the middle and end, I have been very successful solo'ing with any character in the lower level quests.

I am premium and I have 923 TP to buy packs or a class with, could get this to 1K pretty easy with a bit of favor grinding if I have too. I am thinking 12 Ranger/x class/2Rogue build and I have access to Helf, Horc and the f2p races and 32 pt builds. He would not have access to tomes, twink gear or plat as well I am going to attempt to do this without that help. I can start him at level 4 automatically as I do have veteran status on my main server.

I want the rogue so I can grab traps and evasion, plus full ranks of UMD.

Now I have looked over the other builds that have 12 ranger/x class/2 rogue and the alternatives, but I am not sure that dwarf is a good choice (most seem to go that route). Nor am I sure if this split would be the best for solo play on a character just starting out. And I have looked over the valiance builds and other solo builds that require heavy investment in tomes and gear. As I will not have that (granted by choice as I am saving tomes and such for my main character that I plan to TR multiple times back to Cleric) I am at a loss at which direction to go.

I would have to do the n/h and then possible elite route as well.

So what is your opinion on the best solo class to start with.

I do have the following packs already

STK
Necro
Devil Assualt
Reavers Reach
Harbringer of Madness
Vale of Twilight

Do I save the TP and buy Giant Hold or get another like Sands or Delera's?

[barrenwaste]

People who read my posts will probably be able to tell you my answer to the solo build question: Bard. Splash 2 Rog and a Bard can do every job in the party all by itself. If you go 16 Bard/2 Rog/2 Fighter you can go warchanter easily and still get max level spells. Human warchanters are nice, for the healing amp, and because they have no bad ability score. Dwarves also work well as warchanters, too, despite thier bad cha. The main key is not to try to split your ability points to much. Starting with a cha of 12 is fine, you only ever need a 16 to cast max level spells. You need a bit of int for skills (balance, umd, dd, search, heal, and perform are definite needs) so make sure to bump it up to at least 10. Aside from that you need str and con, to pound the baddies and take the hits yourself. For weapons I prefer sword & board, though others swear by thf. With the sword and board you can easily get your ac up to respectable levels and the extra dr is nice, too. You don't have to worry about dps as much as you might think, as you aren't going to have to keep aggro and warchanters can boost thier damage output tremendously anyway (songs, elem weap scrolls, clickies, spells). In the end the warchanter/rog builds can easily trap, cc, tank, heal, and buff. What else do you need?

[SetofBs]

The key to melee soloing is some method of self-healing, AC and decent DPS (you have to be able to take out self healing or HP regenerating bosses). For that reason, your best option given your 12 ranger stipulation is probably 12 ranger/7 monk/1 rogue. Both monk and ranger give decent skill points so you can keep your rogue skills up. Alternatively you can go 12/6/2 if you would rather round out your skill points than have wholeness of body.

Starting stats:
16/14/14/12/14/8

Human for skill points and a feat.

P.S. IMO bards don't solo as well as you might think. The poster above saying that going sword and board is a good option says to me that he hasn't tried to solo high level content. Sword and board on a bard will not get respectable AC even in Gianthold, nor will it give respectable DPS on a class that is already light on DPS.

[Mubjon]

The key to melee soloing is some method of self-healing, AC and decent DPS (you have to be able to take out self healing or HP regenerating bosses). For that reason, your best option given your 12 ranger stipulation is probably 12 ranger/7 monk/1 rogue. Both monk and ranger give decent skill points so you can keep your rogue skills up. Alternatively you can go 12/6/2 if you would rather round out your skill points than have wholeness of body.

Starting stats:
16/14/14/12/14/8

Human for skill points and a feat.

P.S. IMO bards don't solo as well as you might think. The poster above saying that going sword and board is a good option says to me that he hasn't tried to solo high level content. Sword and board on a bard will not get respectable AC even in Gianthold, nor will it give respectable DPS on a class that is already light on DPS.

I do not have the monk yet so that would have to be a purchase to get. I need around 70 more TP so would be about 2 hours if I take a brand spanking new character and run favor on it.

I am open to other possibilities, I just figured that ranger with the range feats and free two weapon fighting feats would be a given. As I do want to go two weapon fighting so it does not have to be 12 ranger, it could be 6 or 2, if there is something that is better suited to solo'ing in the 12+ range of levels. The build will need to have at least 1 rogue level for Traps (I want to be able to grab them for extra exp). If there is something I have missed on the forums that does not require a lot of tomes or raid loot in the bank then great point it out to me. So far all the solo builds I have seen require way to much in the way of loot and tomes to be viable at this time.

Oh and bard is out, I have tried several bard attempts and I get bored with them very, very fast.

[Ytteri]

I do have the following packs already

STK
Necro
Devil Assualt
Reavers Reach
Harbringer of Madness
Vale of Twilight

Do I save the TP and buy Giant Hold or get another like Sands or Delera's?

Hold off until December, Turbine usually does a bunch of different 50% off sales around christmas. Almost always a couple of the more popular quest packs in there. I'd advise Devils of Shavarath as your top priority, then all the epic packs (Fens, Sentinels, Sands and VoN not necessarily in that order). You'll be a bit at the mercy of which packs they decide to put on sale but as a premium player you'll want to spread those points as far as possible. And if you're starting a new character I'd be very surprised if you couldn't get him to at LEAST 1500 favour (375 more points) by December.

[Mubjon]

Hold off until December, Turbine usually does a bunch of different 50% off sales around christmas. Almost always a couple of the more popular quest packs in there. I'd advise Devils of Shavarath as your top priority, then all the epic packs (Fens, Sentinels, Sands and VoN not necessarily in that order). You'll be a bit at the mercy of which packs they decide to put on sale but as a premium player you'll want to spread those points as far as possible. And if you're starting a new character I'd be very surprised if you couldn't get him to at LEAST 1500 favour (375 more points) by December.

I think I have not gotten a character on all the server yet to 25 or 50 TP, so I could cut that 375 down pretty fast with the +50 TP for a quick 30 minutes of running.